Dillard's Rejuvinates with Project Runway Alum Korto Momolu

Dillard's (DDS) is launching a line of handbags and accessories styled by Korto Momolu, joining department store competitors by employing a media-enhanced designer to help it reach the youth market.
That market isn't just comprised of young people, Julie Bull, Dillard's director of investor relations, pointed out, but includes all consumers who want to bring a contemporary edge to their looks. Dillard's is helping them with the Korto Momolu Brand. Designed by Momolu, runner-up on season five of Project Runway and winner of the fan favorite voting, the line is rolling out in Dillard's currently.

Bull said Dillard's is enhancing its fashion statement as regards fresh design, noting:

We're reaching out to the younger customer and those who, for whatever reason, find it appealing. It's all right with us if they are younger, but the line can appeal to anyone who has a great fashion sense. It can appeal to a number of lifestyles and perspectives. It's not about age, it's about attitude, and that fits nicely with what are going to be some great looks and fashion statements coming from Korto.

The Dillard's launch also will get a boost from the Feb. 15 debut of Momolu's latest fashion line at the Union Square Ballroom, an event that is part of the Fashion Week festivities in New York.

The Momolu initiative isn't the only partnership Dillard's has established with a famous name as it stocks apparel designed by Reba McEntire and Sheryl Crow. However, Momolu's established design credentials and her activities in the thick of the fashion business, combined with the celebrity she has garnered from her television appearances, provide the line she has created with a different standing Dillard's can build upon.

"Her designs are very contemporary, very exciting," Bull said.

The Momolu partnership is helping Dillard's to further explore aspects of fashion that it recognizes as important to its future. Bull said:

We're always looking for ways to differentiate our offering, and we're particularly looking for hot talent. We're looking for fashion excitement. This gives us all three. We're focused on more contemporary looks and a more contemporary approach at Dillard's. It's part of a longer-term trend.

Then we'll be evaluating it with customers and evaluating how much of the rest of the store base we want to include. But we envision it to be an ongoing thing. It says we are open to new ideas, and we're excited about young talent. We're creating a whole new approach to fashion at Dillard's. It's part of rejuvenating ourselves. We want people to recognize who she is. Perhaps people who have watched Project Runway will be as excited about what's she's created for Dillard's.

Of course, retailers lately have been signing up everyone from the Olsen Twins â€" at J.C. Penney (JCP) -- to Lindsey Lohan's girlfriend's designer sister Charlotte Ronson â€" at Macy's (M)-- to get some recognition from younger shoppers. And those are just two examples of many. As Baby Boomers age, and as they face depressed 401(k)s and reduced home values, many are left with a waning interest in fashion. Department stores are looking to younger consumers and the fashion icons they are raising to keep business lively.

Department stores particularly have to get the fashion-oriented into their stores as other operations that once might have driven feet through the doors, such as electronics and home furnishings, have largely been usurped by big-box specialists, discounters and even warehouse clubs. The most upscale department stores can count on the most fashion-conscious returning to their stores in a better economy because they stock the most recent seasonal styles. Middle-tier department stores such as Dillard's play it safer, waiting for style trends to establish themselves a bit before buying into them. Yet they need to generate excitement and establish a reputation as being on top of the building trends to compete for the shoppers they target.

The Momolu move may not be Dillard's first brush with fame in fashion, but it is a new kind of big, splashy introduction for the company. As it is a bit behind rivals in this aspect of modern department store marketing, the company needs to make up some ground. It hopes to do so with this initiative but, if not, don't be surprised if Dillard's already has a next idea in the works. The retailer needs to ensure that youth does not pass it by.